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Time flies and the older you get the faster it boogies... Here it is July already and it has been more than two months since my last journal entry. I keep writing things in my head but by the time I get to a computer the head is empty...again. So this journal is about the everyday work. The day in and day out stuff that fills the front page, hopefully shot with a little verve, energy and sometimes even humour. Except for the weather art these images are all from May. Ordinary days. Fire training: A group of firefighter trainees go up the fire tower at the Marine Corps base. This was one of those assignments when nothing else was going on and I was grateful for something - anything happening that did not involve me driving 100 miles to shoot dead bodies. This was a stand-alone shot.
Solar Plant: The SEGS II project shut down its solar energy studies and testing. All of the mirrors were pointed face down to protect them while they are not in use. I liked this shot, but then I have always liked the abstract and surreal quality of the solar reflectors. In some ways they remind me of the big wind turbines - alien beings - watching. This photo went with a story.
Earthquake drill: I was invited by the hospital to shoot their earthquake preparedness drill - evidently someone forgot to tell the big nurse on the left. This ran with a story - front page - big photo.
Movie director Stephen Soderbergh: Soderbergh was in town shooting a new film with Julia Roberts and Albert Finney. The cast and crew liked this shot so much they bought up all the papers they could find in the racks. Albert Finney was a doll to talk with and to shoot. Julia Roberts was not. What a pill!! My experience with actresses is “Who the hell do they think they are and why are they paid so much money?!”
Multi-cultural day: Every year there is a multi-culture day at the local Headstart. This is not always an easy shoot even if it does have cute kids. Many times the little ones are not doing anything very physical other than standing still and singing a foreign song. I am thankful that the Mexican dance troupe was performing.
Calico Cowboy: Three or four times a year Calico Ghost Town has special events. This is another one of those things that you run out of stuff to shoot because you shot it the time before or the time before that. The yearly event stuff gets rough trying to find new shots.
Law enforcement day: Another annual event looking for new stuff. This shot was of a rookie CHP officer putting a dummy into the roll-over simulator. I just couldn’t resist this shot. His fellow officers posted this in the locker room with the title: “Randy and his sister”. He still isn’t talking to me.
Avocets: And when NOTHING is going on, nothing, nothing nothing, I pull out of my hat stuff I have shot at other times - just-in-cases...because there always come a time when a just-in-case is needed. Like these avocets courting in a rainwater pond near the little town of Ludlow. What made this shot interesting is the reflection of the mourning dove flying over - when you can’t see the actual bird.
Hey, we get desperate sometimes. Weather Art: Weather art, oh weather art, where art thou, oh weather art. The old-time El Rancho Motel on Main St. (the old Rt. 66) is the setting for this rainy day shot. We can’t complain, AP picked this one up. So that's all she wrote for the Merry Month of May.
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Lara
Hartley
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Contributor
since 1998
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Behind
the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism |
